CHE junior elected student body vice president

Ali, junior in chemical engineering, Overland Park, Kansas, has been elected K-State student body vice president for the 2019-20 academic year.

During the recent campaign, he and his running mate, student government president-elect, Jansen Penny, senior in industrial engineering, set as high priorities addressing the cost and affordability of a degree, as well as food insecurity on campus.

“No student pursuing a degree at K-State should have to worry about extreme financial burdens or where they can find their next meal,” Karamali said. “I want to focus on creating long-term solutions that will stop pricing students out of pursuing higher education here — whether that be from GPA scholarship restructuring, scholarship distribution or raising more dollars for needs-based scholarships through the KSU Foundation team.

“Along with this, I want to work on helping Cats Cupboard get a consistent flow of funding to not only continue its services, but expand its variety of offerings and create an endowment.”

Karamali’s involvement with student government began in his freshman year when he served as an SGA intern. As a sophomore, he was elected to the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering Caucus.

“The position of student body vice president can be a full-time job, if done right,” he said. “Some weeks I may be dealing with work related to SGA for 40+ hours.

“But because of the time management skills I learned from my coursework and chemical engineering studies, I believe I’ll be able to better manage this role along with my academics and other extracurriculars, without suffering in any category.”

Following completion of his bachelor’s degree, Karamali plans to attend law school and focus on intellectual property law, with the next step to work in the pharmaceutical industry and help companies bring their medicinal products to the marketplace.